Chapter 1348: Graduation Gift
Before Hadden could realize it was happening, he was 25. 12 years had passed in the blink of an eye with barely anything of note happening in his life.
He still felt no different than the 13-year-old kid who had just lost his village and was forced to leave with a completely unknown man. He had never felt as much pain in his life since that day. Not even the weeks of torture he had to go through to be ready for his lesson could prepare him for this.
He reached for the medallion that hung around his neck and pulled out something.
A small golden urn lay on his hand, which he placed on the ground before him. He looked at the urn and gave a small smile. It had only been in recent times that he had been able to do this.
The urn contained the ashes of his family that he always kept by his side. With them hanging around his neck, he always felt as though they were right by his side.
He said nothing and just looked at the urn with smiling eyes.
“I’m gonna go out today,” he said softly. “I’m gonna go out and start living my life now.”
He put the urn back into his necklace and waited by the pool of Essence for someone to come get him.
Ning teleported in sometime later, arriving next to him.
“Teacher!” Hadden stood up quickly to greet Ning. At his full height, he was now almost as tall as Ning. And since his growth had been slowed due to Essence, he had still yet to grow.
In his prime, he would be taller than Ning.
Ning looked at the young man with the face and body of a teenager. “Hadden,” he spoke. “Today is the day you graduate from under me. Are you ready?”
“Yes, teacher,” Hadden said.
Ning looked at Hadden and his 8 cores. The young man had indeed done something incredible by managing to split his one core into 8 cores. The pain one had to go through for that was unimaginable.
“How do you feel?” Ning asked.
Hadden thought for a moment and answered. “Anxious, nervous, and excited,” he said. “I’ve been stuck on this island for the last 12 years. I’m both looking forward to and afraid of what will be happening next.”
Ning gave a small chuckle at his words. “I suppose I understand what you mean,” he said. “I’m feeling the same.”
“Oh?” Hadden gave a surprised look. “What do you mean, teacher?”
Ning took a deep breath. “I’m leaving, Hadden,” he said.
Hadden took a moment for himself. “I’m sorry, leaving?” he asked. “Where are you going to? Can’t you just teleport around easily even if you leave?”
Ning shook his head. “I’m leaving this world,” he said. “I’m leaving this planet for good. I will never return here again, not while you are alive at least.”
“Oh…” Hadden was taken aback.
“Let’s not dwell on what I’m going to do though,” Ning said. “Today is your graduation. You’re finally ready to leave. You’ve done a good job all these years, so for that, I’ve brought you a gift.”
Ning brought out something from his storage. A dull brown spear with cracks all over it. He tossed it to the ground in front of Hadden.
“That is my gift to you,” Ning said.
“Gift?” Hadden was excited. He reached down to see what the spear was like, but to his surprise, he couldn’t carry it at all.
“What… what is going on?” he asked while trying his damn hardest to try and pick it up.”
“That’s a replica of the Continental Sword,” Ning said all of a sudden. “You won’t be able to pick it up that easily.”
“A replica of the sword? But this is a spear,” Hadden said.
“I meant in the way it was made,” Ning replied. “Don’t worry about that for now. Sit down and see if you can bond it quickly.”
Hadden nodded and sat down. Suddenly, his cores switched to a Pure core and he started pouring the pure Essence into the spear before him. It took some time, but he managed to bond it in the end.
The spear became light as a feather then and he picked it up.
“Woah!” Hadden thought. “This is incredible.”
“You know everything I taught you?” Ning asked and Hadden gave a small nod. “Then you’ll be able to make good use of this spear. I made it while keeping your needs in mind. I’m sure this will aid you a lot in your life.”
Hadden gleamed at the idea of the spear and quickly bowed. “Thank you, teacher.”
“Don’t thank me. After all you’ve been through to reach the level you have, you deserve it,” Ning said. “Now, are you ready to leave?”
Hadden nodded. “Are we going to the Ulharis city?” he asked.
“No,” Ning said. “We are going there, but we’re taking a small detour first. Since I’m going to be leaving, I have some places to go to first.”
Ning grabbed Hadden by the shoulder and disappeared.
Ning arrived in a small town in a slightly deserted section and found the tavern he was looking for. He walked in and went straight to the owner who was handing out drinks and food.
“3 mugs of ale please,” Ning said and watched the woman on the counter nod and walk to the back.
She arrived a minute later with 3 mugs of ale and turned to go back to work.
“Won’t you have a drink with me, Sophie?” Ning asked the woman.
The woman quickly turned around, her untied blue hair spinning alive in the air. She looked at Ning for a while with confused eyes before they went wide in surprise.
“It’s… it’s you!” she said out loud.
“I’m happy you remember me,” Ning said with a grin.
“What are you doing here?” Sophie asked hesitantly.
“Just meeting a friend,” he said. “You seem to have settled as a tavern owner quite nicely after the gang was disbanded.”
“You do know there are still orders to kill you on sight for the murder of the previous Emperor, right?” she asked.
“Oh…” Ning said with a surprised expression. “Tell me more.”
Sophie explained the situation and it turned out that after Ning had left, there was a notice as to who had killed the Emperor. When searched to find him, they found that he had been a spy of some sort with his background a complete lie.
As such, the soldiers had been handed his portrait and had been ordered to kill him on sight.
Hadden was surprised. “You killed an Emperor?” he asked Ning.
“Hardly,” Ning said. “I only disabled him. Someone else took the kill. But I suppose they must’ve done what they could to hide her involvement. It wasn’t a bad idea.”
Hadden nodded.
“Also, I came to talk to you about how your life was going on,” Ning told Sophie. “Amongst everyone from the gang, aside from Clara herself, you might be the one I was closest to.”
“Is that so?” Sophie asked before shrugging. She took up the mug that Ning had brought for her, and then she started telling him what she had been doing for the past 2 decades.
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